Wheeler steadied himself and looked out at the packed room. His nerves faded away. He made a joke. “In fact,” he said, “we were married fifty-six years on Sunday.” He paused and smiled. “My wife says, ‘When we get to heaven, I’m gonna say, “Lord, not up here, too.” ’ ” The room erupted in laughter. Parker looked out and laughed, too. “I see we have a whole lot of amens to that.” His friends in the crowd started to cry as he spoke. “You see, I was born in Mississippi,” he said. “I spent my early years as a sharecropper and was focused upon filling up a nine-foot sack.” The sun and shadow
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